I have started to service my PTO. Don't think it has been apart since the truck rolled off the assembely line. Took me a day of soaking in CRC and a lot of gentle persuation just to separate the winch from the u-joint at the shear pin.Now, to pull off the free spool hub, no joy after days of soak in CRC and some gentle persuation with any and many heavy object.In the grease nipple hole was dust, rust, and other shit that should not be there. Got the CRC treatment as well. Still no joy.

Now is there a special way to get the hub off? Or just more (not so) gentle persuation, prying ect?Every info that I could find on the big web, just say pull the hub off.

I wouldn't try prying against an alloy hub unless I really really had to.Heat it and hit it.It's possible someone has siliconed both sides of the hub gasket too. Also check that it's disengaged, then rock the shaft back and forward to see it's not binding.

Thanks for the replys, managed to pull it apart. The hub was well and truly stuck in there.Needs a fair bit of clean up, the seals are old and hard, but the bearings and gears are in very good condition.So a few days of srapeing, scrubing, and I shoud have a working winch.

Is this on a Safari pto?. I stripped mine a few years ago, hub came off ok but took time to separate the drum from the shaft. Cleaned & reassembled it with white lithium grease on the shaft.....to this day it still freespools perfectly.

Yep, it is a safari PTO, as I figure the step down shoulder of the hub was well and truly stuck in the spacer disc, the rest of the winch come apart easy as. The oil in the gear side was more as a melted butter mixed with water than oil. Give it a good clean up, but still trying to work out why it did not free spool. But at least I have found a good pinch in the wire rope, so it is a good excuse for an upgrade to dyneema, just have to work out how much will fit on the drum.

i made a steel drum from heavy wall pipe with 10mm plate ends took it to nice turning shop for steel bearing ends to be made same as stock drum ,$800 for that service drums longer and ends larger dia ,sitting on the floor in garage at the moment ,

Alloy drums are fine, get rid of the wire & fit a narrower fairlead so the rope doesn't come off the side of the drum. These winches bind up when fitting them, to make sure you get the freespool working properly you may have to shim the mounting bolts. Bolt it up first, it may freespool fine if not loosen the bolts progressively & try tighten in a different sequence.